Most unfriendly forums of all time

Televisionwithoutpity.com's forums can be a minefield, they have a lot of really strict rules and if you're caught breaking one they smack you down fast. And you probably will be caught, since they have a rat-out-your-fellow-poster system for finding lawbreakers.

I'm not saying they have bad rules - their rules actually make a lot of sense - but even so I still feel like I'm posting under siege over there. ("What was that word you can't use to start a post again... er, or um? Ah forget it, I won't use either.")

And if you're a buyer complaining about a seller on the eBay boards may God have mercy on you, because the sellers sure won't. :lol2:

 

Seriously? You would get in trouble for starting a post with the wrong word?

 

Digitalpoint. The mods hand out infractions nothing I've ever seen. I complimented someone on their site, and got an infraction for post padding.

 

It used to be just (I think) "um" but I took a look at their FAQ and they've expanded it. I quote:

And this is pretty much true, most of the time "I'm sorry, but" is followed by something like "you're all wrong." So I'm not saying it's a stupid rule, but you sure can't just casually join that forum and jump into a conversation without memorizing the FAQ. Every time a new person says something like "I didn't read the whole thread" they probably get a dozen PMs begging them to delete that sentence before someone rats them out.

 

I do think the rule is stupid.

 

Geesh. Stuff like that is what makes a community friendly and inviting, it shouldn't be an offense.

 

Am i still the most unfriendly? :o

 

I know of one that has a very tight group of the original (and only) members who are obviously cliquey. The general mood of the forum is very depressed and uninviting. Not to mention the horrible words that aren't censored (until some one complains says the admin)
There are very limited forums for unpaid members, and those forums largely contain threads of peoples personal lives. New members definately feel out of place jumping in and commenting on a strangers thread of their very personal life. No discussion to engage new members.
The forum is disorganised and half of it doesn't work, members are constantly complaining of glitches but they dont get fixed for the long term, just short term fixes.

 

I am not even going to mention the name, because the extremely ego obsessed manager of the site tracks both referrals and mentions of the site's name and article/topic responses online. But still, a couple of choice rules taken from their rules forum (paraphrased) which pretty much sums up what could be the least friendly forum in existance:

Members are banned for incorrect spelling and grammar
Posts are edited all the time
The administrator immediately bans anyone he doesn't respect
Quote as much as possible from other sites; don't worry about copyright laws.
Not either agreeing with the articles or posting exactly why you don't like them with extremely detailed reasons get you perma banned with no appeal.
Any posts with gameplay or core mechanics (words) will be deleted, and multiple uses get the poster banned.
Posting something the owner clases as stupid gets you banned instantly.

And there is a long topic which is basically 'link to and flame everyone who responds to anything on said site on the internet'. Three quarters of people who join end up getting banned.

 

cheat-master: sounds like fun, PM me the link?

 

Me too if that's possible please :lol:

 

If you need the link...

http : // forum . insomnia . ac /

Remove spaces. I think referrals get tracked, if not just based on the name of the site being posted.

A few interesting notes:

Small Name Big Ego - Television Tropes & Idioms

Portal Of Evil Forums

Oh, and a somewhat choice intepretation of copyright:

http :// forum . insom nia .ac / view topic . php? t= 2538

 

The problem, especially with forums as big as DP is that things like this happen constantly, in an attempt to 'bump' threads, and they have to keep that to a minimum. The only way to do this is to be overbearing. While not the best idea, DP doesn't care about "friendly and inviting", it's big enough they can ban 100s of people a day and it'll still grow.

I have to agree with the sentiments stated earlier re vb.org , for my own reasons of course. I haven't been able to stand that place for a good while, and the way that VB staff run it is a joke.

 

While vBulletin.org bores me a bit now, I'm not sure it deserves all the bad reputation. The only thing I can hate about it is how few times people answer your questions in the vBulletin related/request forums. Compared to most other forums discussed here, it's kinda tame.

 

When it's possible to be banned based off of PM conversations held with a staff member who shouldn't be interacting at all in staff roles, yeah, it deserves that 100%.

When multiple staff members issue warnings/infractions for the same thing (ie: the same thread, the same post), yeah, it deserves it 100%.

vb.org , and the entire vb site of forums has to be the worst for this, the most user unfriendly of all. You can do nothing wrong on one, and be banned globally, just because the admins "feel you have a bad attitude", based off of private (PM based) conversations.

 

I like both sites and generally get along well with everyone.
But in the situation that twiting is referring to, I do agree with him.

 

No answer yet.

 

Yes.

 

I've never really known anyone from AdminAddict to be unfriendly at all to be honest.

 

Yeah no answer.